DC is about to triple its villains. Director Matt Reeves received all kinds of praise for his fresh new take on the Caped Crusader in 2022’s ‘The Batman,’ but it’s fair to say that star Robert Pattinson was ultimately overshadowed by the big bads layered into the script: Paul Dano’s Riddler with his David Fincher-inspired approach, John Turturro’s creepy mob boss Carmine Falcone, and especially Colin Farrell as the scene-stealing Penguin, Oswald Cobb (a character so appealing he has since been featured in his own hit ‘The Penguin’- series on HBO). But don’t forget that even at the last minute there was a plague for it another big DC antagonist with Barry Keoghan’s Joker, who got even more screen time in a deleted scene that Warner Bros. dropped shortly after the film’s release. Since then, there’s been speculation that the upcoming “The Batman: Part II” would focus a lot more on Gotham’s famous Clown Prince of Crime, but we’re now getting word that the studio is planning some seriously big things for him in the future.

The rumor comes from the Marvelvision podcast, hosted by film blogger Derek Faraci and former critic Devin Faraci (a reliable source of insider information, but who, it should be noted, has had a controversial past in the film critic community), linked in their latest episode to HBO’s ongoing ‘The Penguin’ series. In a scoop that /Film can independently confirm that we’ve heard from our own sources in recent days, Faraci reveals that WB is looking ahead to future plans for the Joker – some of which may include a Joker-centric spinoff series, which would lead to a great appearance in the third “The Batman” movie. Read on for more details!

The success of ‘The Penguin’ could have more far-reaching consequences than we ever imagined. As popular as Batman has always been among fans and general audiences alike, there’s no denying that viewers have been drawn to the superhero’s villains time and time again. (That well might finally dry up for a while with the recent flop “Joker: Folie à Deux,” though studio executives certainly hope that was an aberration.) If this latest development is to be believed, the Joker is going to have some great development. grand return to the small screen And the big screen in the coming years. About 21 minutes into the latest Marvelvision podcast episode, Devin Faraci reveals:

“Apparently Warner Bros. has been talking to Barry Keoghan about his return to ‘The Batman’ franchise, and my understanding is that – I don’t know if he’s joining (‘The Batman: Part II’) or not, but he is the main villain of (‘The Batman: Part III’) And the reason they’re really talking about it is because the plan is to make a Joker-oriented series that connects ‘II’ and ‘III’ in the way ‘. The Penguin’ connects (‘The Batman’) and (‘The Batman: Part II’).”

That said, he’s quick to warn that it’s unclear if this will be exactly in the same vein as ‘The Penguin’, with the Joker set to be the main protagonist of the series like Oz Cobb. Reportedly, this could either be a full-fledged Joker series or, as Faraci puts it, just “a series that features the Joker.” That leaves quite a bit of wiggle room for WB and Matt Reeves, but this certainly lines up with previous reports that Reeves wanted to expand the series in a villain-focused direction. A lot could change between now and the release of “The Batman: Part II” (which has been pushed back a full year to 2026), so stay tuned for further updates.